Posts tagged “New Jersey”

Mondays on Memory Lane: MY OFFICE VIEWS FROM THE 102nd FLOOR OF WORLD TRADE CENTER SOUTH TOWER – With the advent of the spire topping off and finishing the new World Trade Center Tower, I will tell you what it was like to work in the original towers. In 1983 I got a job on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center, the south tower. I was senior project manager of a commercial design firm named Dancker, Sellew & Douglas. I worked there with my dear friend Helene Bernicoff. My desk was right near the tall floor to celing windows. It was incredible.

On my first day to work – I was late! I am German, Germans are never late! But I was. You see, I had calculated the exact amount of time it took to take the subway from Rego Park, Queens to the Trade Center. What I had not calculated on was the vertical traveling time. That took an additional 12-15 minutes. By the time you found an express elevator in the rush hour that had room to take you to floors 50 and 100, then, transferred to the local elevator which took you to floors 101 – 110. . . it was 12 to 15 minutes vertical traveling time! To transfer from a “local” to an “express” was something one usually does with trains and buses, not elevators, it was surreal. Then you had to un-pop your ears every morning as you arrived at your desk. (There were 198 elevators in total).

My view was north. I could see the whole of Manhattan, the Chrysler Building, The Empire State Building, Central Park and far into New Jersey. My friends relied on me for weather forecasts. If the radio said it was a sunny afternoon for the park, I would contradict the radio and say, ‘No, no, I see a big dark weather pattern coming in the from the north or the south’. It was fun.

Northeast view from the original World Trade Center Tower. Woolworth Tower below.

On stormy days the building would sway in the wind, it had to of course. The girls would complain and say they were getting sea sick…no they weren’t, they just wanted to go home to watch their soap operas. There were 12 lobby elevators which expressly took you to the higher floors, twelve of them. Each was the size of a cattle car – huge! On very stormy days, only the outer corner elevators would be operational because we were told the center 10 car cables were not stable enough to handle the swaying…great to know. Once inside the elevator, even the biggest loudmouth shut up. There was always this “silence” in the elevators.

The elevator banks at the World Trade Center

On those stormy days you had to learn to balance yourself. No, not walking – in the toilet. You see, the water in the bathroom bowl swayed the way it does on a ship in stormy high seas. If you weren’t careful, you’d get a wet bottom.

Since we were a design firm, we had many colored markers at our desks. What we would do, is to attach one of the markers from the ceiling with a string and hang it so the tip would touch a piece of paper on our desk. We would watch the marker make the same pattern on the paper over and over again as the building swayed. As the wind shifted, so did the design on the paper. I wish I had kept on of those papers, but it was a novelty taken for granted in those days. There was always ‘white noise’ in the background, the hum/buzz of the air ventilation systems, it was like being on an eight hour airplane ride daily. To work in the clouds – a memory I will never forget and always treasure.

A CHRISTMAS TREE IS COMING!: Today Rockefeller Center will erect the annual New York City Christmas tree. Not your ordinary tree. This Norway Blue Spruce is from our neighboring state New Jersey and weighs 10 tons. It will stand a 80 feet (24 meters) in height, 50 feet wide (15 meters).

If you have ever complained about putting up the lights on your tree – you have nothing to complain about. This tree will take 40,000 LED lights winding over 6 miles of wire! The world famous Swarovski company will supply the crystal star atop the tree. The official lighting ceremony draws thousands of people including a gaggle of celebrities and will take place Wednesday, November 28th. Tis the season . . .

WORLD TRADE CENTER 1973: It is October 1973. The World Trade Center was the new sensation of New York City having just been completed in April of that year. New Yorkers were astounded at how majestic they were, at how new an idea it was – twin towers.

People were buzzing where you could go to get an unusual view of these new icons. My best friend Tony Indelicato and I decided to go to New Jersey and view them from there. I don’t recall where we were, but when we reached this desolate spot, we loved the contrast.